In the past, software and hardware design never really crossed paths under Apple's roof. In fact, a report in March of this year pointed out that Apple's software design team for iOS typically sat in the dark on what the industrial design team was doing, but the two have started collaborating more as of late -- allowing software designers to get an idea of what devices their iOS projects will run on, and also give industrial designers a say in what the software will look like on their hardware.

This change (under Apple CEO Tim Cook) is showing its face with the iPhone/iPad's upcoming mobile operating system, iOS 7. 9 to 5 Mac reports that Ive has had a huge role in designing iOS 7, and that the new look may shock customers who are used to past versions of iOS.

IOS 7 is expected to have a "flat" look, closely related to the look of Microsoft 8's live tiles. This is quite a break from the user interface designed under former CEO Steve Jobs, which follows a more glossy and life life look. The new OS loses all that shine and skeuomorphism currently lavished on users.

Apple's Jony Ive

While the design is flatter, the ease-of-use remains the same. There will be no learning curve for users, as the idea was to keep things simple (as usual).

The look won't be the only change to iOS in the upcoming version. There will also be an all-new icon set for Apple’s native apps, and tool bars, tab bars and other interface features will get a fresh design.

Apple has also been considering adding more bundled information and options panels within the OS, like Notification Center. This would allow users to quickly glance at many notifications across their system at once. It hasn't been confirmed if we'll see this in iOS 7, though.

The changes aren't expected to please all users, specifically those who are used to the lifelike design with heavy textures. However, Cook has placed all confidence in Ive's ability to create across hardware and software.

"Jony, who I think has the best taste of anyone in the world and the best design skills, now has responsibility for the human interface," said Cook in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek interview this year. "I mean, look at our products. The face of this is the software, right? And the face of this iPad is the software. So it’s saying, Jony has done a remarkable job leading our hardware design, so let’s also have Jony responsible for the software and the look and feel of the software, not the underlying architecture and so forth, but the look and feel."

The changes to iOS 7 are not expected to give all developers too much trouble in the future, but apps built for iOS 6 and previous could be considered outdated since they're made to match old versions of iOS.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple was pulling engineers from OS X 10.9 to finish iOS 7. At that time, it was predicted “Ive’s work is apparently making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad.”

Apple's mobile operating system is likely going through a huge overhaul because it's in the midst of creating entirely new gadgets, such as the upcoming smart watch. Reports have said that the new watch's OS will be built from the ground up rather than starting with the iPod nano's touch operating system (which has a screen about the size of a watch). Also, the iPhone/iPad's OS must be reconstructed to work with the new devices.

I don't understand how Iphones increasing and Androids decreasing, the world and dog knows that isn't true.

Today I was in a business seminar, I met up with three people I knew. Last year, the same people would flick out their i-phone 4's from their pockets in some sort of ritualistic offering to the Gods. I withhold from dishing out from my jacket my lowly second generation Android phone, the fear of flying the wrong mask and aspersions about my worthiness had stopped me in my tracks, is it size or quality that defines the man, I mumbled, it was I have to say a traumatic experience.

This year at the seminar,I was prepared, I had an upgrade and ready to exorcise the demons. The same 3 people sat around the table, their hands synchronized and reaching into their inside pockets, I flipped my Mexican Poncho Clint Eastwood style over my shoulder, sank my teeth into my cigar, and thought 'well punk make my day'.

Time had crawl to a halt, much akin to being sucked into an old Motion-picture movie where black and white celluloid shots of Jake LaMotta ravaging my head with his pepper shots hit me with all its intensity, I heard in the background 'freeze frame and cut', it was all over and I can walk tall.

Dude it was like D-Day or Obamba bakes a cake, the business associates rifled their pockets, only this time the Iphones were replaced with S3's, can you imagine that, it was monumental and my soul for just this second flew with the sea gulls. I pulled out my S3 to demonstrate that I was part of the clan. Priceless.

Yup... Apople still sells alot of phones and makes alot of money, but on the high end, they are not just a little behind, they are really looking lame. Its like a low end "starter" smartphone with an aged OS and a high end SOC.

I would say I'm sorry to burst your bubble of absolute idiocy, but I am decidedly not.

Tonys link shows the following:

Nov 2012:

Apple 35%Android 53.7%

Feb 2013:

Apple 38.9%Android 51.7%

The article you posted argues as follows:

Q1 2012:

Apple 47.9%Android 44.6%

Q1 2013:

Apple 43.7%Android 49.3%

Now I wonder if you can spot the failings in your own evidence. Even ignoring the obvious discrepancy between these two articles, one is comparing November 2012 to Feb 2013 , and the other is comparing Q1 2012 to Q1 2013 . As a result, the articles are not even necessarily inconsistent. Apple could have seen a decline from Q1 2012 to November 2012, and then seen an increase in take-up from November 2012 to Feb 2013. This would satisfy both articles and leave Tony's comment factually correct.

But why would you ever apply logic when you're such a bitter Apple hater, hey?

And don't mistake this factual statement with any claims about what will happen in the future or whether Apple has/will or not rise/fall in market share. It's a simple logical analysis of the reality of both of your articles, showing you why it doesn't even remotely prove what you believe it does.